Last Wednesday night, Cindy Pawlcyn featured the cuisine of Peru at Cindy’s Supper Club, a weekly exploration of foods from around the world. The meal featured specialties from Peru typifying that country’s cuisines.

Cookery in Peru is unusually diverse, with distinct coastal, mountain and jungle regions, each with different ingredients and dishes.

Peru also probably has the most diverse influences of any South American country, with the Incas and other native people contributing potatoes, lima beans, tomatoes, corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and ají (chilis) as well as seafood from the rich coastal waters. Natives also ate the meat of members of the llama family and, for the poor, guinea pigs, neither of which appears on American Peruvian menus.

Peru’s native culture was influenced by Europeans, especially the Spanish and Basques, and also shows African, Japanese and Chinese influences. Peruvians created fusion cuisine long before the term showed up on today’s chic menus in California.

Peruvian restaurants are blossoming in the large cities of the United States, including San Francisco, as more and more immigrants bring their culture to this country, and more travelers discover the richness and diversity of the food.

No product is more typical of Peru than the potato, which originated in the country’s highlands. In Peru, they cultivate 2,000 varieties, but Cindy chose a tortita de papa, a fried potato cake or patty as the first course of the meal. It was served with a salsa de caca-huate, or peanut, another native of South America (not Africa — the peanut migrated to Africa then to the American southeast, where it has become ubiquitous.)

The tortita was served with a bit of aioli and paper-thin slices of baked or fried plantain.

While potato dishes typify the mountain cuisine, the next course was from the coast, Peru’s national dish, ceviche, has been widely adopted elsewhere — including Mexico, where locals also claim it as indigenous. In this case, the ceviche was a mixture of octopus, prawns, calamari and scallops marinated in lemon juice rather than the lime more typical of Mexico, and served with white sweet potato, fresh corn and corn that had been soaked in limewater like hominy or pozole, then dried.

The main course was Pato Horneado, duck from the oven served with a sweet corn tamal baked in a banana leaf and salsa criolla (Creole sauce), similar to the fresh salsa we all know from Mexican restaurants. Cindy provided those recipes for you to try at home.

Dessert was arroz con leche, rich rice pudding with golden raisins and cinnamon.

The whole meal was tasty, and I’m going to be on the lookout for Peruvian restaurants when I travel, even to San Francisco.

One special treat of the evening was that Cindy came around to talk to her dinner guests, making all feel very welcome. In the convivial atmosphere, we found that a man at our adjoining table used to come to the Miramonte Hotel and Restaurant years and years ago, when a whole lamb dinner was $1.25.

The Peruvian meal was a good buy here in Napa Valley, but not that cheap! The whole dinner for each diner at Cindy’s Supper Club is $40, or you can order a la carte.

Wines are not included, but there are plenty of choices. We chose wines by the glass to match the courses, including sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and syrah.

Peru does produce wines comparable to those from Chile, but they’re difficult to find in the United States.

This week, the supper club serves food from Denmark, Finland and Norway. Cindy comes from Minnesota, the Scandinavian region of the United States, so this should be especially interesting as she combines food of her youth with that from her travels.

Upcoming dinners

Though Chef Cindy Pawlcyn is famed for being the pioneer in Napa Valley’s wine country cuisine at Mustard’s Restaurant, she personally loves other food, too. She travels around the world to find new tastes, and also maintains a library of 6,000 cookbooks for inspiration and reference.

Mexico-born executive chef Pablo Jacinto, who has been with her for decades, and his staff also contribute their cultural heritage and travel experiences.

Many of the menus feature food from around the world, but she also explores the regional cuisines of the United States. As a native of the south, I especially look forward to her southern meal, but I bet it will be a lot healthier and tastier than the overcooked and fatty food we used to eat at home!

Coming up on the Supper Club itinerary this month are Northern Lights: Tastes from Denmark, Finland and Norway on May 14; Portugal on May 21; and the Greek Islands on May 28. Check with the restaurant for the Supper Club schedule for coming summer months.

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen is at 1327 Railroad Ave., St. Helena. For reservations, call 963-1200 or visit www.cindysbackstreetkitchen.com

Celebrity bartenders, too

In addition to her Supper Clubs each Wednesday, Cindy also invites local winemakers and vintners to be “celebrity bartenders” every Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. They serve and pour their own wine as they walk from table to table and talk to guests. They also try bartending at the bar.